1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a character-based communication offering system.
2. Description of the Prior Art
With the recent rapid spread of personal computer communications, the mode of communications and businesses have been changing through such information exchanges as electronic mails and forums. On the other hand, communication mediums using graphical user interfaces (GUI), for example, the Internet, have been proposed. However, it is not easy to set up a terminal for using the Internet as compared with using a personal computer for communication. Accordingly, even if a user acquires an account under a certain provider and tries a dial-up connection, it is fairly difficult for the user having no knowledge about the work station to set up the terminal and achieve a connection to the Internet successfully.
On the other hand, personal computer communication services have a history of more than 10 years to date, so that the operation has been standardized, with the set-up of the interface at the communication terminal side being not so difficult. Thus, personal computer communication services are expected to be spread more and more in future if interconnection with the Internet or the like is made possible.
Of the services offered by the major personal computer communication companies, the character-based services have been dominant. Thus, the users' terminals have also been mainly those devices, such as personal computers or word processors, which are capable of displaying characters. Accordingly, the user needs to input certain character strings or commands using a keyboard, such as for editing electronic mail in a communication-mode picture on a display screen. For this reason, people, particularly children or the aged, who are not familiar with using keyboards, tend to stay away from personal computer communication services. Accordingly, while having interests in personal computer communication, they have not been utilizing their personal computer for communication, but for playing video games.